Page 58

Chapter

Forty-Three

Liv

I think my mother was heartbroken, too. For years. She never spoke of my father, yet she swallowed that pain and raised two girls. She kept us alive on her own without letting that pain seep into our childhood. It was time to be like my mother, now more than ever.

M y magic was beautiful. Golden and shimmering, it reminded me of the sunbeams that would peak through the boughs of the giant cedars back home and hit the snowy ground, sparkling like a million tiny crystals.

It shone like the Light that found me dying in my old homelands.

It poured away from me, coming from my chest and floating through the air toward the Aspis, who absorbed it.

The Aspis opened its mouth wider, pulled harder, and the magic flowed past its long sharp teeth, over a forked tongue and down its throat.

The magic hummed, as it usually did, but it vibrated my body, burning hotter than the sun. It was like a fire was being set to every nerve.

The air changed, and I was lifted off the ground as I strained against an intense pain that felt like flesh tearing from my body.

I tried pulling myself away, twisting, thrashing, but I only bowed my back and gave the Aspis more access to the magic.

It was draining me. I felt weak, my breathing shallow.

So this is how the Aspis defeated the Ikhor. It stole the magic, killing the host.

But was it taking the magic to return to the gods?

“Help!” Maev screamed, but her voice muffled, as if she were in a different room.

She ran up to me, hand outstretched, but the closer she got, the more her face contorted in pain. “The magic, Liv. It’s taking it. It’s killing you! Do something.”

The magic pushed her back.

Like the barriers that surrounded the airships, it vibrated like a living rainbow, turning Maev hazy. I reached for her, lifting my heavy arm. So weak. I couldn’t get to her. The bracelet on my wrist was no longer glowing, fading back to a clear, empty stone.

“Help!” her voice echoed, terrified.

She hadn’t given up on me, and was here, standing before the Aspis, trying to help me.

Thank you . I tried to say. Sorry, got stuck in my throat, and never made it to my lips.

The cycle of hate would continue. Her people would go to war against the Guardians without the Ikhor’s help. At least the Aspis would return to its slumber before the Guardians could use it against more of her people.

I looked up into the empty, hate-filled eyes of my enemy. It would be the last thing I saw. Never in a million years did I think this was how I would die. I always thought I would die starving and alone in the Endless Forest. Or by the hands of the Law Keepers, like my mother.

My breathing became laboured, my magic not glowing as bright.

A jerking motion around my waist caused the last bit of air to leave my lungs.

It happened again. And again. Was I convulsing?

No—hands bound around my waist, painfully yanking on me.

The pain intensified as I was knocked from the air, and the magic came crashing back into my chest. Like a whip, it hit me, pushing me back. I sucked in a large breath, coughing. I landed hard on the ground—no, not the ground—a hard body.

Arms pulled me from the beast, dragging me across sand.

The Aspis wailed, rearing back, angered.

Maev was lying on the ground ahead of me, trembling with fear, staring at whoever held me.

Bastane stood in front of Maev, blocking us from the beast.

The Aspis shook its head, roaring as if in pain, spittle flying around us.

Us . Me, and the one who saved me.

I turned slowly as the person pushed me off them.

“Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck.” Nuo stood, putting himself in front of me, blocking the Aspis.

I was too shocked, too weak to speak, but I asked, “Why?”

It was the second time I had asked him the question today.

He pushed the hair from his face, sweat dripping off his jaw. He lifted his sword and aimed at the beast. His hand was red and swollen, like a sunburn, likely from the magic when he pulled me free—when he saved me.

Kazhi skidded to a halt beside us as a loud screech filled the air, and the Aspis roared when the Eagle swooped down and grabbed its horns, pulling the beast’s head back at a dangerous angle.

The Eagle’s roar filled the canyon pass with his anger. “I want no part of this battle, Kazhi. Get your men off my lands.”

Enraged, the Aspis curled in on itself, snapping at the Eagle, who was too fast in the air for the beast to catch. He soared high, faster than the Aspis could track, coming down again and clawing at black scales and curling horns.

“Why!” I said louder, Nuo standing over me. I had to know.

He finally looked down, masking his emotions, lowering his sword to his side. “I made a promise to Brekt.”

“Liv.” Maev landed on her knees before me, but I didn’t acknowledge her, not breaking eye contact with Nuo.

His warm eyes searched mine. And Searched. His mouth worked around words he didn’t say.

But he was here.

“You two need to get away before it comes back,” Bastane said above us. “The Eagle won’t be able to distract it for long.”

“I don’t understand,” Maev said as Bastane reached out a hand to help her up.

“You and me both, Aethar.” Bastane appraised Nuo, looking concerned.

Nuo offered me his hand, and I couldn’t blink. I couldn’t speak as my throat worked around something lodged in it. I took hold of his warm, calloused hand, and he pulled me to my feet.

Tears ran down my cheeks, and his face changed back to that cold, cruel man.

“This doesn’t mean I won’t continue hunting you.

” He stood so close I could feel his warmth.

I could see the lines of his gills along his neck.

“I need time to think about what to do when I find you next, now that I have fulfilled my promise. He never said anything about saving you twice.”

It was no real threat. That voice of the Interrogator was gone. There was meaning behind his words, emotion. It was Nuo, not the Guard, talking to me now.

My heart swelled. “I’ll take it. And I’ll prove that you don’t need to kill me—like you promised.”

I jumped when Bastane put a hand on my shoulder. “Bones … I hope whatever is on the other side of these canyons doesn’t kill you.”

“From what I’ve faced, I think the only thing that could kill me is the?—”

I didn’t finish that thought, realizing how quiet it was. The Guards, Maev and I, all turned to where the Eagle had been fighting the Aspis, where now, only a cloud of dust remained.

A screech echoed, bouncing off the canyon walls as a shadow shot toward the sky. The Eagle flapped his wings high in the air. Blood dripped off his hands, his feet, and fell the fifty or more feet to the ground, disappearing into the dust cloud that was too small to hide the Aspis.

“What did he do?” Bastane asked.

We searched the cloud, which was dispersing from the dry breeze. The beast was nowhere to be found.

I stifled a gasp when something moved in the cloud of dirt.

A tall, dark figure stepped forward, appearing out of the shadows. Citrine yellow eyes found me through the haze. Curling horns pulled away from a handsome, angered face.

Brekt had returned—a snarling, bloodied version of him.

The Eagle landed behind him, looking past the half-beast to where Kazhi stood frozen. “I promised you five lives could leave these canyons, Kazhi. I wanted no part in this fight.”

The Eagle grabbed Brekt’s head and twisted.

My scream echoed through the canyons, likely heard a world away.